We Took the Streets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords

by Miguel Meléndez

“A thoughtful and historically insightful book...the Young Lords challenged the system as no one else had done before them....Their philosophy served as an inspiration for many of us.” --Representative Jose Serrano (Democrat, New York)

“This account of the formation of the Young Lords is fascinating. Back in the 1960s, a group of Puerto Rican college students learned about revolution from the bottom up—from their deeds—upon which they built newer, more daring, and more advanced deeds that developed into still further successes and failures. The young men and women grew in stature until the complexities of their developing situation brought more problems than solutions and, by the end, the movement fell apart.Yet in the time they were active, they changed the history of New York, and for the better. So this account grows as one reads until one is experiencing elements of the epic, the surprising, and the tragic. The book will also have its considerable impact on anyone who is interested in the history of New York during that great period of ferment we call the Sixties.” --Norman Mailer

“The Young Lords were a socialist street gang. They produced more wonderful writers than most costly journalism schools, including Juan Gonzalez, Pablo Guzman, and Felipe Luciano. In part, this book preserves the memory of this astonishing cadre that changed history, spread ethnic pride, and mobilized East Harlem with its audacious activism. I was there, as both a supporter and a reporter, getting a close-up look at these berets in the barrio. They were fearless. When the bombing of Vieques is finally over for good, when New York finally elects a Latino mayor,we will look back and see the Young Lords for the historical turning point they are.” --Jack Newfield

On Saturday, July 26, 1969, at a public demonstration in Tompkins Square Park, a fistful of young men and women took the stage and announced that they would “serve and protect the best interest of the Puerto Rican community.” The Young Lords had officially arrived in New York City.

Miguel “Mickey” Melendez was there, and for the next three years dedicated his life to the Young Lords, one of the most controversial and misunderstood radical activist groups to emerge from the ferment of the 1960s. In We Took the Streets, Melendez shares what it was
cf0like on the streets of El Barrio, alive with the sounds of Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri but also teeming with the drugs, poverty and injustice that inspired him to become a revolutionary. Advocating social justice for all and independence for Puerto Rico, the Young Lords took on the establishment—and won.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Latinx, Politics, Race, Biography, Social Justice

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2003

Reviews

[James Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential memoir of the NY Young Lords. Accessible, lots of context. Reads like having a beer with an activist elder.

[Russell RIckards · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "We Took the Streets" by Miguel Melendez, was a very interesting book. Usually i am into fictional so this book was a bit out of my range. It is about an activist named Mickey that fought for Latino rights in New York in 1968. Through the book I was able to really understand how important it is to be able to have your own rights and how much Latinos in specific care about it. Over all I rate this book 4 stars.

[Leticia Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but poorly written. In my opinion, Melendez over analyzes his role as a leader in the Young Lords and tries, unsuccessfully, to sound like Malcom X.

[Nate Niehaus]

Didn't read in whole, just those parts relevant to corroborating Felipe Luciano's memoir.

That said, if I had to pick one, I would stick with Luciano's which is more of a memoir than this, which feels like an attempt at formal history with much less color and lifelife detail. Melendez comes off, along with most other members of the Lords founding Committee, as more internationally and ideologically oriented than Luciano, but also more out of touch with the community than him. Perhaps this is why they, as a group, came to Luciano with the idea of forming an organization, asking him to be the Chairman. Many of the Young Lords founders started out as student ideologues studying Mao, Ho Chi Minh, etc. One of them is quoted by Melendez as saying early on in their work, "We must go to them...To the masses." Melendez later states, "We not only listened, we heard our people." This fetishization of "the people," coupled with a sense of separation from and desire to unify with "them," stood out to me in my study of the 1968 Mexico City Student Movement in college. I was not surprised to learn that one of the Young Lords founders (Pablo Guzman) experienced his political awakening during a visit to the Mexican student movement, which occurred about one year before the Young Lords really got to work in East Harlem.

This book also raises questions regarding Luciano's depiction of the "Second People's Church" episode. After Luciano's ouster, the Young Lords decided to stage a protest in reaction to one of their cadre's death in a prison cell, which seems to have been a suicide. The Lords contended that Julio Roldan had been murdered by police in the jail and that the "suicide" story was a coverup. Of the three former Lords who have written about this episode (Miguel, Pablo Guzman, and Felipe; if there are others, I'm not sure), Miguel insists it was a murder, Pablo suggests he expressed doubts in the murder and that a rising leader in the group insisted to depict it as a murder anyways, and Felipe suggests he was quite sure that it was in fact a suicide (at this time, however, Felipe had been ousted and basically left the group). Pablo and Felipe both claim that sympathetic inmates in the jail had confirmed the suicide. At any rate, it appears the Central Committee's policy was in fact to push the story of murder even in the face of evidence that Roldan had killed himself.

The Lords went to the funeral home where Julio Roldan's body lay and carried his casket to the Church; stuffed inside the casket were not only his body, but guns with which to strike a militant pose in seizing the Church. Melendez depicts this episode as a success, as nobody was arrested, and nobody got hurt. He also claims that community support grew as more individuals came to join the organization as a result of the takeover. Evidence for this community support lies in the fact that the Lords managed to recruit inconspicuous neighborhood grannies to spirit the guns out of the Church so that no members got arrested. This fact is left entirely out of Luciano's narrative. Luciano, however, claims that the Central Committee member who did stand with the cadres in the Church came to him asking for help in getting firepower so that they could at least die with dignity in the seemingly inevitable shootout, which never happened. This story is left out of Melendez' and Guzman's narratives. If only we had David Perez' testimony.

Felipe's portrayal differs drastically. For him it symbolized the Lords' loss of touch with the Barrio in favor of their new radical Maoist direction, as well as the Committee's cowardice and betrayal of the rank and file; only one Committee member was present in the Church when it seemed like the only way out was a shootout with the cops, and the young rank-and-file members left as a sacrifice without firearm training or enough guns to stand a chance. However, Felipe has every reason to project his own feelings of betrayal by the group (after his demotion from Chairman to rank-and-file after an extramarital affair destroyed his credibility in the group) onto this episode.

Had the Lords abandoned their mission to the community? By this point, it seems not quite. Less than a month after the second "People's Church" takeover, the group spearheaded their most lasting institutional gift to the community: the heroin detox center at Lincoln Hospital. But movements' dissolutions are drawn out, and it is possible that the seeds were planted by that time. One gets the sense that for some of the Young Lords' leaders, from the very beginning, their community actions were valuable but nonetheless subordinate to the ultimate goal of building a socialist revolution. This helps us understand why some of these same members remained as the Lords decided to end all community social programs and instead attempt to spread Maoism among workers.

[Annie Windholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords by Miguel "Mickey" Melendez

Miguel "Mickey" Melendez was a member of the Young Lords, which was a Puerto Rican leftist group predominately in New York City during the 60s and 70s. Though the Young Lords themselves were not an explicitly militant leftist group, Melendez was the commander of their underground army.

"Rage is also an understandable result of witnessing or being subjected to severe injustice. To ignore the reality of such a feeling is not the answer. Rage can be understood as a symptom of moral awareness, as a wake-up call coming from one's conscience. How to turn that anger into a creative and positive impulse in the struggle for a more decent and fair society, is the true challenge, a lifelong quest."
Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain until the Spanish-American war of 1898, then through the "Treaty of Paris," Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba and the Philippines became US colonies. Since then, Puerto Rico has been beholden to the US and is currently a commonwealth of the US. Puerto Ricans have similar rights and obligations as US citizens (such as the military) but Puerto Ricans do not pay federal taxes and do not participate in national elections.

"According to the U.S. Supreme Court, Puerto Rico belongs to, but is not part of, the United States. If that judicial point of view is taken seriously, then Puerto Rico is a belonging, a possession. Can one nation possess another? Can you imagine someone saying that the United States belongs to, but is not part of, another nation?"

Photo Credit
Some of the Young Lords most famous community actions include the garbage offensive, lead offensive and and church offensive.

"When a community stands together and makes a strong statement, it will be heard. On this occasion, something had been done to address the problem. The same happened in all Young Lords offensives; it became our mantra; a balance of embarrassing the state, the city, and public and private institutions, and being able to present popular solutions to address the issues at hand."
The Young Lords broke apart after COINTELPRO intervention into their activities, and the death of one of their leaders.

[Christopher Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why people are saying it was poorly written? It was written from a real point of view, with honesty, and purpose. I loved this book. In a world full of propaganda against movements by the people, this book is a beacon of light. It still remains critical of what the organization became but still remains an inspiration for revolutionaries.

[Devy · Rating 3 out of 5]

read after you’ve already researched the young lords. this book, while deeply moving and informative at parts, reads a little like the self-aggrandizing recollections of your tio after his third beer. definitely should be read as a personal history of one of the later lords members, not a history of the entire political project.

[Ms.Caprioli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good account of the formative years of the Young Lords surrounded by autobiographical information. Easy to read and full of details.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Written in a very accessible manner. For folks who aren't in the know, The Young Lords were a revolutionary Puerto Rican organization mainly based in New York. Some people refer to them as the Puerto Rican version of the Black Panthers.

The author, a former member of the Young Lords, conveys a lot of great stories of some of the actions they took. For example, they wanted the local hospital to serve the local community needs more, but the administration wasn't responding, so they took over the hospital auditorium and set up a clinic for the community. My memory is a little fuzzy, because it's been a couple of years since I read it, but I think they did some simple things like testing for certain diseases, as well as setting up a very successful drug rehabilitation program. Matter of fact, it was so successful, the hospital ended up adopting it and still exists today I believe.

I think I found those type of stories inspiring, because they served people's basic needs and they didn't take no for an answer. When the government or some other institution was unresponsive they still took action and made the system work for them. When the city was collecting garbage in their communities, they pushed the garbage into the middle of the street and set it on the fire. This attracted the press and forced the city to deal with the problem. At some points they have been a little immature and I think its dangerous to fall into the trap of romanticizing militant-like actions, but I think it helped me think outside of the box in terms actions that can be taken to better the community.

Unfortunately, like a lot of revolutionary groups from that time period, they seemed to fall into the trap of being too ideological and dogmatic.

[Ezra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great! I've been talking about it all over the place - I didn't know very much about the Young Lords and this book tells the stories of a lot of their direct action and organizational history with a great grounding in the history & culture of Puerto Rico and Nuyoricans.

BUT! I borrowed this book from Michelle and she warned accurately that you read the book constantly feeling like "why don't you ask some women about their experience!?!" though Melendez does acknowledge the women's movement in Young Lords I still left feeling like the analysis was only as deep as "women were empowered, we men kind of recognized it, we fucked things up in the movement by cheating on our women partners constantly."

Still an excellent book and great resource!

[Davina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melendez took me through a solicitous and receptive journey of the YLP, which also includes crucial parts of his own experience as well. I feasted on the descriptive cultural tidbits and their struggle to understand who they are on their own terms. A definite must read for today's youth of color, many of whom who feels or has no connection to the larger society and d the inflicted trauma we are accustomed to by our social and emotional conditionings. The YLP is a def. legacy for they gave most of us a footing when we didn’t think it was possible in the urban 60s-80s. And even today. Si, se puede.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for those wanting to know about the Young Lords. I was not familiar with the overall history of the movement; so this book is a good primer. After reading it, I would say that a definitive book about the subject has not yet truly been written. Books on the subject are few, so this book is a must read for anyone interested in the movement.

[Maria Tortuga · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Young Lords were very flawed, but it makes their successes even sweeter. Despite their failures they did a remarkable amount of good for New York and the fact that their crazy tactics actually worked should be an inspiration for all of us who spend our days trying not to go against the grain.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I questioned the validity of this book, the deeper I got into it. Liked it until their philosophy changed from social reformers to militants w a manifesto. They totally lost their way and completely fell apart.

[Seven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power to the Peoples.

[Yazmín · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although interesting, poorly written. However, the story within needs to be shared.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

They stole some mobile clinic vans to give free healthcare...

[Katie Brennan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly-written memoir but good introduction to the Young Lords and valuable as a primary source.